Schools On CPS' Closing List By Race And Utilization

As the Chicago School Board prepares to vote on which schools targeted by CPS for closing should be shut down, here is a look at two of the more controversial measurements and profile characteristics that have surfaced during the debate: Utilization rate and race. In this chart the red circles represent schools on the list and the gray circles represent other CPS elementary schools not on the list. They are sorted vertically by the percent of students who are black and horizontally by the school's utilization rate (the percent of school being used.)

6 Comments

Parsing data has merit but it seems like you're really reaching for something to print. Eventually you will have to report what's happening in these schools. Is there nobody on staff willing to do this?

What I don't get - and I have read so many column inches - is why nobody will print a list of schools by race. We keep hearing that this is racist so please print a list of every Chicago school with the schools that are whitest on top and blackest on the bottom. Thank you.

So what I want to know is how many schools on northwest side are overcrowded. Most children in the whiter neighborhoods have class size of over 30. So those parents who pay the most property taxes have the most crowded schools. How about an article depicting that truth. So as my child sits in his overcrowded classroom , we want to waste more money fighting about a cost saving measure that reduces waste. What about the principal of doing the most good with a limited amount of resource(money)? Or are we going to keep throwing money at the money pit of south side with grossly underutilized schools because their own race had made their neighborhood full of crime. So we reward those in society who do not function like 90% of the people.

How about putting an actual comparison chart of black population loss in Chicago during the last census. Nothing about this city losing over 200,000 black residents and over 40,000 black students?Might there be a reason to close schools where their aren't that many students?? How about you also show a chart with neighborhood population density and local schools?/ I guess that would destroy the racist argument.